Life in rural America has its charms and challenges. Those who pastor in small towns across the United States recognize the trials inherent to those areas but believe God is working in their congregations and communities.
I’ve consulted with hundreds of churches over the years, and sadly, online trolls are a common enemy shared by some of the most effective churches in America.
A new national survey shows that biblical clarity about family and the sanctity of life is fading, even among regular churchgoers.
A new national study — conducted by the Family Research Council in partnership with the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University — reveals an erosion of biblical conviction among regular U.S. churchgoers.
Giving at local churches is not keeping up with inflation, but pastors feel better about the economy than they did last year.
Churches have poorly discipled people in stewardship, but they can learn to grow a generosity culture, said David Whiting at the August 28 Thrive Baptist Network Lunch and Learn.
But aren’t there more important things to count that look at the vitality and vibrancy of a congregation?
Most pastors are confident their churches are helping people grow as Christians. Just don’t ask them how they know that.
“We hope this article is useful as a kind of grand narrative about what’s going on in the world, a model of how to see global religious change,” Conrad Hackett, one of the authors, told RNS.
I saw the signs of future sin way before we entered the lost years of the congregation my family helped launch when I was in high school. It was certainly not intentional sin. It was all unintentional. We caught it before it became an ongoing sinful practice.
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